Give Yourself An Upgrade

September 10, 2017

The following advice applies to all areas of life, either personal or professional. We can all agree that sometimes something new can add a spark to mundane chores. As exciting as each wedding can be, the photography preparation for the day is ritual of charging batteries and putting all the gear in place. While it’s an easy task, it’s hard to get excited about a job that you’ve done hundreds of times. This does not reflect in anyway how we feel during the wedding when all the excitement is stirred up and the bride and groom are looking beautiful. This tip is to help with the preparation of a task.

I’ve found one of the best ways to get excited about something I’ve done over and over again is to upgrade or enhance a part of the task so it feels new again. Getting new camera equipment is one of the biggest ways to get excited for the wedding day because I will be itching to use the new gear in a real world environment. While those are more rare occurrences because we can’t all afford a new lens or body every time a new version comes out, I can always upgrade something small that I can use for the day. Even small photography upgrades like a new hand strap will allow me to look forward to the next wedding. One of the more regular upgrades that my wife and I have found are fashion upgrades, work clothing, for the wedding day. A new pair of work pants, belt, socks, shirt, shoes or whatever it is that makes me want to wear it for the wedding day. The bonus is we get to write all of these new purchases off as expenses! Clothes wear out faster than equipment, so these will be more of a regular upgrade purchase.

I believe this tip applies to any aspect of life to enhance my experience, like driving for example. I can imagine my car might get a little boring after years of the same stock setup. I’m not talking about engine overhaul or even aftermarket suspension. Even the littlest of things like a new accessory inside the car that makes me excited to take a long drive so I can enjoy the new toy. I do enjoy tinkering with my car so I can at least also do some interior electronic upgrades – recently adding hardwired USB ports for multiple GoPro cameras while driving.

So in summary, whenever tasks start to feel mundane, change it up a little! Treat yourself with the hard work you put in, which only makes you want to work harder for the next little treat.